Quick adjustable bench vise



March 9, 1948. J. A. FOLLMER EI'AL 2,437,351

QUICK ADJUSTABLE BENCH VISE Filed April 50, 1946 [lull 2 JNVENTOR.

Fm] JOSEPH A. FoLLMER y 6% JOSEPH FOLLHER Wm MW,

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 9, 1948 QUICK ADJUSTABLE BENCH VISE Joseph A.Follmer and Joseph Follmer,

Denver, 0010. I

Application April 30, 1946, Serial'No. 666,085

This invention relates to improvements in quick adjustable benchvises.

-Cabinet makers, carpenters and .other wood workers areconsta-ntlysemploying a bench vise for holding the workunder-preparation. Since theparts that :areworked on frequently differgreatly in size,- it becomes necessary to efiect a considerableadjustment of the vise in order to shift from one size of work toanother.

The usual. bench vise is so'constructed that a vise head or block ismoved longitudinally by means of a screw, preferably provided withsquare threads. .When a large adjustment becomes necessary, the screwmust be rotated many times in order to move the vise head the requireddistance and this is time consuming.

It is the object of this invention to produce a bench'vise of suchconstruction that it can be quickly adjusted, within the limits of itsrange, by merely turning the screw one or two complete turns in eitherdirection.

This property of the vise is a great time saver and makes its operationsimpler and more desirable than the ordinary vise. Having thus, in ageneral way, described the invention and the objectsthereof, theinvention itself will now be described in detail, and for this purposereference will be had to the accompanying drawing in-whichthe inventionhas been illustrated in its preferred form, and in which:

Figure l is a top plan view of a work bench showing the vise inpositionthereon;

Figure 2 is a front elevation ofthe parts shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section, to a somewhat larger scale, taken on line3-3,.Figure. 1;

Figurej l-lis a section taken on lines 44, .Figures 3 andl;

Figure 5 is a section somewhat analogous to that shown in Figure 4, butto a larger scale, and shows the position of the parts during theadjusting operation of the vise;

Figure 6 shows, by full lines, the position of the parts during thetightening operation and by dotted lines the position during theloosening operation; and

Figure 7 is a section showing a slight modification.

In the drawing reference numeral l9 designates an ordinary carpenterswork bench. The top of the bench has attached thereto a strip H of thesame thickness, which is provided with a number of square openings E2 inspaced relation. The openings may be positioned as close together .-1Claim. (CI. 81-28) ,2 as desired, but can-not be spaced a greaterdistance than the range of the vise.

The vise to which the invention relates consists of a casting having anupper flange l3 and a downwardly extending flange M. Cast integral withflange M is a guide or enlargement I5. This is provided in its lowerwall with a groove i 5 and in its upper wall with a groove I'l. At theend at the block is a'lug :8 that has an unthreaded hole through whichthe screw lilextends. Avise block or head 20 is attached to the innerend of the screw in the manner shown in Figure 3 to which referencewill'hereinafter be made. Block 29 is provided with grooves 2| at itstop and bottom, forming inwardly extending tongues 22 that fit into thegrooves l6 and I1. Instead of the specific shape of the grooves 16 andI'Lthe guide and vise block-may have a dovetail interconnection such asis almost universa'lly employed in connection with lathes andillustrated in Figure 7. These two forms are equivalents for the purposeunder consideration and will be'referred toas a dovetail connection.Block Edisslidable along guide l5'and is provided with an :opening23 ofsquare or rectangular cross section. It is also provided with anopeningf24 that'terminates. at 25. In axial alignment with opening 24and extending inwardly from the side adjacentthe screw is a' countersunkopening '26, intozwhichthe cylindrical end of the screw extends, asshown in-Figure '3. A tap screw 21 extends through the wall of member 20that separates openings Hand 26 and has a threaded connection with theend of the screw i9. Screw i9 maybe turned with respect to-block 20, butthe latter will :be secured thereto for longitudinal adjustment alongguide IS. A nut 28 is secured to thescrewilg and is provided with.outwardly extending wings 29 and 3d. The outer surface of part [5 isprovided with transverse depressions 3| that are somewhat wider than thethickness of wings 29 and 3B. These depressions are of the shape shownmost clearly in Figures 5 and 6, from which it will be seen that whenscrew I9 is rotated in a clockwise direction, when viewed as in Figure5, wing 29 will enter the recess 3! corresponding to its position andmay move into the position shown in Figure 6 where it engages the stop32. When in the position shown in Figure 6, which is also the positionshown in Figure 3, wing 29 serves as an abutment and if the screw isthen rotated clockwise, when viewed as in Figure 4, it will force theblock 20 towards the left in Figure 3. Stop pins 33, which have beenindicated by dotted lines in Figure 2, are

positioned in holes l2 and 23, the one in hole l2 being positioned inaccordance with the length of the piece worked upon which has been shownby dotted lines in Figures 1 and 2 and has been designated by referencenumeral 35.

Let us now assume that the piece 34 is in position and the vise has beentightened. Wing 29 will then occupy the position shownin Figure 6. Whenthe piece 34 is to be removed, the operator turns the screw in acounterclockwise direction, when viewed as in Figure 6, and after thepres,- sure has been removed, nut 23 will be rotated by the frictionbetween it and the screw until wing 30 reaches the dotted line positionin whichit extends into the depression 3 l :1. shown in Figured Therotation of the nut will now stop and any further rotation of the screwwill move the head' 20 towards the right. If the piece 34 is to bereplaced by a piece of the same length, the screw does not require to beturned more than one complete reotation to release the material and tomove the head towards the right a sufficient distance to enable the newpiece to be inserted. If a; piece considerably longer or shorter is tobe substituted for the one that is removed, the operator, after the nuthas reached the position shown in Figure 5, merely pulls screw islongitudinally until the head 2%! reaches the desired position,whereupon a rotation of the screw in a clockwise direction turns the nutinto a position like that shown in Figure 6, whereupon further rotation.of the screw moves the block Ell into clamping engagement with thework.

When the nut 28 has a position relative to part [5 like that shown inFigure 5, the screw and the vise head can be reciprocated freely and bymerely imparting a slight rotary motion to the screw, the parts arelocked in the position in which they then happen to be, which positionis determined by the length or'size of the article to be clamped betweenpins 33.

Since there is very little force necessary to move block away from theclamping position, the construction shown in Figure 3 by means of whichthe block and screw are interconnected is satisfactory; however, anyother suitable means for effecting this connection can be substituted,if desired.

Attention is called in particular to part [5 and to the depressions 3|and Sla which are of such shape and'so related to the nut 28 and wingsas and 30 that the nut cannot rotate a complete revolution. The twowings 29 and ill] have also one edge in alignment as shown in Figure 5and a very small rotary movement is therefore sufficient to move thewings into or out of the notches.

The construction just described and shown in the drawings, is verysimple and substantial.

The parts designated by reference numeral l3, M'and l5 may be cast as aunit and grooves l6 and I! made smooth by a milling operation or aplaner. Block 2%] is also adapted to be formed from a casting and can befitted to the slide with a minimum amount of labor.

The construction of the nut and the part [5 in the assembly shown on thedrawing and described herein is considered to be of great importance inthis device because the result of this arrangement is a quick adjustablevise of an extremely simple construction, having no weak part or partsthat require any high degree of finish. The vise described andillustrated is of a strong and substantial design and can bemanufactured and sold at a comparatively low price due to its greatsimplicity and at the same time the strength and quality of the vise asa whole is a maximum.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

A quick adjustable vise comprising, in combination, an elongated basehaving a guide extending longitudinally on one side, a perforated lug atone end of the guide, a vise block slidably interconnected with theguide, a screw extending through the opening in the lug, one end of thescrew being rotatably connected with the vise block, the screw beinglongitudinally slidable in the lug, a nut on the screw, between the viseblock and the lug, the nut having angularly spaced wings, the surface ofthe side of the guide facing the screw having a plurality oflongitudinally spaced transversely extending depressions for theselective reception of an end of each wing, the depressions havingtransversely extending stops between their ends to engage the ends ofthe wings and limit the rotation of the nut, the side walls of thedepressions cooperating with the wings to hold the nut from movinglongitudinally relative to the base when the screw is rotated to movethe vise block.

JOSEPH A. FOLLMER. JOSEPH FOLLMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 615,113 Stockbridge et al. Nov.29, 1898 727,986 Makowsky May 12, 1903 FOREIGN PATENTS Number CountryDate 42,926 Switzerland Apr. 30, 1903 83,543 Switzerland .May 17, 1920

